The Elon Musk owned Starlink announced on Monday October 24 that they are now available in Jamaica. The announcement comes two weeks after Technology Minister Daryl Vaz shared that SpaceX’s Starlink applied for a telecommunications license to begin operations in Jamaica.
He said Starlink will be a “game changer” for the island.
Starlink is now available in Jamaica → https://t.co/slZbTmHdml
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) October 24, 2022
Country Manager for “Flow” Stephen Price told World Music Views that Starlink’s entry into the island is a viable competitor but based on his observations nothing will change as Flow is already on the move to improve broadband reach in the island.
“Not much changes, they will compete in the same space as us, just straight broadband. I don’t know what their model will be, as they currently have no physical presence, just paid subscription,” he said.
Of the 2.9 million people living in Jamaica just about 1 milion currently have no access to internet and broadband service. As a result the bulk of music and video streaming takes place in the urban areas where the internet is more accessible. Starlink’s network promises to be beneficial to the under-served rural and remote regions across the Island because SpaceX’s satellites will beam data directly to user Starlink antennas.
Price says, “It has its pluses and minuses, it’s a low orbit satellite, it’s a viable option specially for the underserved.”
As for the price point which is always a factor for rural consumers, Stephen says, Starlink’s price is similar to that of Flow and therefore does not pose a threat to their market as Flow is more penetrative.
“Its about USD$60 per month, we are in the price range for our price point, it’s the same competitive space but we are doing a lot more from our perspective.”
“It is what it is, we are gonna have to compete on provision, quality of service. It’s a new world and we just have to compete aggressively.”
Starlink’s website still displays a monthly subscription price in the US of $110 — plus a one-time $599 fee for the hardware kit. The prices in Jamaica have been slashed to half.
Stephen, who is also a director of Dream Entertainment, owners of the popular parties series Yush and Dream Weekend says, “They will have the same kind of challenges, it depends on the kind of backbone, they are potentially going to be using us(Flow) in terms of being able to provide broadband.”
As for the technology’s impact on the music industry, Stephen said Jamaica’s culture of free music remains even though streaming will increase, “streaming will continue to increase the deeper the penetration goes. Even though the software itself is getting thinner and thinner, the question that comes across is whether or not paid streaming is going to work in Jamaica, I don’t see it working because of the credit card penetration. people prefer to use the free versions.”
“We are a free consuming market, piracy is pretty high in Jamaica, as a benefit to producers of content and music there will still be a heavy reliance on ads.”
Already people are using Starlink on the island and reporting good service.
I’ve been testing Starlink in Jamaica for about a week now. Consistently averaging over 100Mbps down and, about 15 to 20 up. Latency also decent. Tested in Manchester, Jamaica and Kingston, Jamaica.
You literally plug it in, wait a few minutes and you have high speed internet pic.twitter.com/i3GwIeJX1d
— Gordon Swaby (@Gordonswaby) October 24, 2022
It will work anywhere in Jamaica. As Gordon mentioned, you just need electricity.
Coverage map from https://t.co/bnH6x3ds6k pic.twitter.com/B4YFdA9dFr
— Everone Graham (@everonegraham) October 24, 2022
The price point reported is just over J$8000.
Starlink monthly service will cost only JMD$8,450 in Jamaica. It’s really over for the local net-nah-works. pic.twitter.com/0XtASsc6bk
— Errol (@ErrolNisbeth) October 21, 2022
